Misty Eyes
by Calico Star
Summary: Nick meets a strange immortal in Amanda's bar, and discovers another one of her secrets.
1. Chapter 1

Methos took a moment to study the building. His lips twitched at the thought, 'Only Amanda!'. Who would have thought Amanda would end up living on holy ground, but then again, who would have thought of opening an exclusive Parisien club on holy ground!

He sauntered up to the door. The doorman looked ready to refuse him entrance, but was forced to allow him in on production of a card from Amanda, a card she had obviously sent out on opening the club, but he had only picked up his mail recently on returning to Paris.

He could feel the immortal presence within, and passed through into the bar, expecting to see Amanda. Instead, there was a sandy haired man watching his entrance. Reminding himself this was holy ground, he acted unconcerned, and ordered a beer from the bar. From the bartenders facial expression this was neither a common, nor an appreciated request, but he served Methos with a bottle of his favourite. Saying a silent thank you to Amanda, who had obviously stocked it, he turned to survey the rest of the room, reflexively noting all the exits, trying to ignore the immortal who was still watching him carefully. With a small sigh, he figured he should at least introduce himself to the young man and hopefully ensure that the rest of the evening remained challenge free. However, as he decided, the buzz hit him and they both turned to the entrance.

Amanda swept in, only her eyes scanning the room giving any indication of concern, smiling at a few of the regular patrons and gesturing to the barman for a drink while doing so. Her eyes lit on Nick first, and she smiled, then moved on to the man sitting near him. After one frozen moment, she flung herself at Methos with a cry and wrapped herself around him, to the amusement of the patrons.

Nick wasn't sure what to make of anything. A scruffy immortal walks into the place, ignores him almost completely, lounges against the bar and then Amanda greets him with a joy he had never seen from her in any of her previous encounters, even with the immortals she seemed to like.

Methos pulled her tightly to him in a reflex action and, as he recovered from the shock of her greeting and noticing the tiny tremors running through her, ran his fingers soothingly through her soft hair. He wasn't used to such effusiveness even from Amanda. He hadn't been sure what reaction to expect after his long absence, but that definitely hadn't been it. He briefly wondered what it was all about, before putting that problem aside for the moment as she broke the contact. She searched his face, then apparently satisfied with what she saw there, took him by the arm, back to her usual self.

"It is good to see you, old man. Come and catch up." She nudged him in the direction of one of the private salons, saying over her shoulder, "Nick, be a darling, bring us a round of drinks and I'll introduce you to .." she looked at Methos in query.

"Adam."

"Adam. Where have you been for this past .. oh .. year or so?"

"Here and there. Mostly there."

When she had them settled in to her satisfaction and Nick had arrived with the drinks, they caught up on the events of the past year. She spoke of her time in the States, meeting up with Nick and their adventures, ending up with her new business venture. She glossed airily over Nick's becoming immortal, but Nick got the curious feeling from Adam's shrewd glance in his direction, that he had seen the slight shudder Nick had repressed and understood a great deal of what had not been said.

The evening progressed comfortably and the three chatted about a variety of topics. Methos was amused to see Nick bristling with disapproval when Amanda described some of her more adventurous heists.

"What is it with you and the boy scout types, Amanda?" he queried playfully.

Amanda just smiled at him, and Nick couldn't be sure he really had seen the brief flash of hurt in her eyes. Methos, on the other hand, had seen it, and mentally filed it away as another question to find the answer to. Deciding to push a little and see what he could discover, he continued, "So what is MacLeod doing with himself these days?"

"Why would I know?" Amanda got up smoothly, if rather abruptly and turned. "I need to have a word with Pascal about arrangements, I'll be back in a few minutes."

'Okay, so definitely a touchy subject.' He hadn't imagined the possibility of a serious rift between these two. Although he knew MacLeod still had some issues to work out after the strain of the last few years, he had thought that he was recognising just how important Amanda was to him. What could possibly have happened?

Nick watched Amanda leave and this Adam fellow watching her leave with curiosity and a deep sadness in his eyes. He cleared his throat, and noticed that Adam's eyes showed no signs of the emotions of a few seconds ago.

"Who is MacLeod?" he asked quietly.

Adam tilted his head ever so slightly and regarded Nick for a long moment, until Nick started to feel decidedly uneasy.

"She has never mentioned him?"

"Never."

"Interesting." Adam seemed content to leave it at that and withdraw into his own thoughts.

Nick realised he was not going to get anything further out of Adam on the subject, and knew that it was futile to try and push Amanda on a subject she didn't want to discuss. Well he would just have to keep an eye out and if this MacLeod turned up, he would handle him.

"So have you known Amanda long?"

"A while."

Informative was obviously the trend for this evening!

Adam took pity on the young man, asking about his views on Paris compared to his home town and then leading him into a light conversation.

Amanda breezed back into the room a little later.

"Adam, are you staying? I can get my spare bedroom made up."

"That would be nice, if …" he glanced between them, " .. I wouldn't be in the way?"

"No of course not, anyway Nick has his own apartment."

Nick noticed that she stayed near Adam whenever she was in the room, making some form of contact with him when possible, even if it was just her fingertips brushing against his arm. This man was important to her. He wasn't sure what to feel. They had seemed to be moving towards a relationship before she shot him, but then things had become complicated and he hadn't had time yet to sort out his feelings for her. Her attitude and actions toward this man was so far out of sync with what he thought he knew about her that he wasn't sure he could get a read on this situation, and he didn't like that feeling. He realised again, just how little he actually knew about Amanda. Adam too seemed to defy his attempts to assess him and the danger he might present. He looked like a young man, but Nick was starting to have enough experience with immortals to realise that that was no accurate guide. He seemed laid back and relaxed, yet Nick had noticed the practiced way he had scanned the room, and guessed at the power in the man's lithe form.

He pictured her clinging to Adam for dear life, as she seemed to be repressing the urge to do just that, and almost snorted aloud as he saw Adam's face as clearly as if it was actually happening, amusement and sympathy laced with pure panic.

Nick returned to the present to hear Amanda making plans for tomorrow. They were going to see Dawson, apparently he and Adam were old friends, which intrigued Nick. He was invited too, and decided to tag along because he was puzzled by Adam and hoped more time would enable him to make a proper threat assessment, besides which he liked the old watcher.


	2. Chapter 2

They walked into the shadowy interior of Joe's bar. He looked up at the sound of the door and greeted Amanda and Nick cheerfully, Methos mused, obviously they came here regularly. He looked good, a little older, but good. Methos' musings were interrupted as Joe realised the identity of the third individual who entering his premises. With a wide grin, he made his way as fast as possible round the bar.

"Me ... As I live and breathe, it's good to see you Old Man. What rock have you been hiding under?"

"Good to see you too, Joe. Been around and about, things to do, people to see ..."

"Beer to drink!"

"You know me."

"Indeed. So you back in Paris now? You obviously caught up in Amanda."

"Found him in a bar, where else?" was Amanda's cheerful contribution.

Nick was interested to see the obvious affection between the two men as well as how comfortable Amanda seemed with them. From everything he had seen so far, immortals were seldom comfortable among others of their kind, and even less so in the company of Watchers.

Joe ushered them all to a secluded table and brought a round of drinks from the bar.

Adam raised his beer in a half salute and muttered aside to Joe, "On my tab, I presume."

Joe's reply was merely a snort and Amanda grinned.

They whiled away the afternoon with reminisce and drink. Joe had to leave a few times to serve occasional customers but otherwise joined the relaxed conversation.

Nick hadn't consciously realised that everyone had been avoiding one topic of conversation until Amanda excused herself to go to the ladies room and Adam turned to Joe as soon as she was out of hearing range.

"Do you know where MacLeod is?"

Joe shook his head sadly.

"No, he gave us the slip and as far as we can tell he hasn't been to any of his normal haunts."

"Oh."

"He'll turn up, he always does. But I think after the past few years he just needed to .. umm ..."

"Take a time out."

"Yeah." They contemplated their drinks.

"Hey, you didn't ask Amanda, did you?"

"Yes. Obviously not one of my better ideas."

Joe winced. "Not a good idea, no."


	3. Chapter 3

Amanda didn't talk about him, and blanked any mention of him, Adam was concerned about him and Joe missed him. Both the men were worried about Amanda's reaction.

"So why did he take off?" Nick was curious to know more about the man who appeared to have such an influence over all these disparate people. Joe and Methos started, they had almost forgotten the young man. With a glance at the apparently older man, Methos shrugged and began.

"It was the end of a difficult few years for him, he lost so many friends in such a short period of time. Then this old enemy, an immortal, kidnapped Joe and Amanda."

Joe took up the tale with a grimace, "He used us against MacLeod. Offered us in exchange for Duncan's head. It was one last terrible choice, in a long line of horrible decisions to be faced with, and for a moment, it looked like he was ready to make the trade. Something brought him back, gave him the will to fight and win, to save us and himself." He paused, to pull himself together again. Nick could sense how difficult this was for him, to have been used against his friend. "But he had still had enough. He left soon after that to make some sense of everything, to find peace and a reason to keep going."

The three men sat in quiet contemplation. Two thinking about the man they knew, they trusted, who was off now somewhere fighting his personal demons. Nick was trying to build a picture of the man they described, as well as considering again the pain that immortals faced, losing so many loved ones.

Methos broke the silence, saying, "I think I have an idea why Amanda is upset."

"You do?"

"Well, don't keep us in suspense, old man."

The corners of Methos' mouth twitched as he looked at Joe, and muttered, "Patience! Patience!" before asking, "When did he disappear?"

Joe's glance was quizzical but he answered, "After that last night we were all together on the boat. A Watcher followed him as far as Gare du Nord, next morning, but then he vanished and we haven't been able to trace him since."

The pieces were fitting together.

"And when did you see Amanda next?"

"She came here later that day … and asked where Mac was. I didn't know at the time. Over the next few days we figured out that he had gone and wouldn't be back for a while. That's when she headed to the States."

Nick watched the two of them, trying to see where Adam was heading with these questions. Apparently Amanda had been as much in the dark as Joe about this MacLeod's disappearance.

After a moment, Methos asked Joe, "What did he say to you, that last night?"

"What? Why?" Joe seemed confused by the question.

_Flashback_

"_You know, I don't know who or what you are, Methos, and I know you don't want to hear this, but you did teach me something. You taught me that life's about change, about learning to accept who you are, good or bad, and I thank you for that."_

"He told me that he had learned something from me, he thanked me." Methos' smile was sad.

Joe nodded thoughtfully, "He told me he appreciated our friendship, that he didn't want to imagine his life without me." He paused for a moment, then with a sigh continued, "Have to say, that helped me through this last year, gave me hope I would see him again soon."

"So you think he will be back?" Nick interjected.

"Definitely, and I don't think it will be too long now." Joe answered confidently, before turning to Methos, "So?"

"Mmm …. Going by what he told you and me, I would say he probably told Amanda how he really feels about her."

"Oh!" Both men fell silent, contemplating the implications. Nick was confused, why would this be a problem, what was this man's relationship with Amanda and what would he have said to her that had made her react the way she had. She hadn't mentioned him for over a year, even around his friends.

"He wouldn't have hurt her, would he?" he questioned the others when it looked like no-one was going to speak.

Methos looked across at him with a curious expression, before stating definitely, "No! He wouldn't hurt her, he couldn't. He loves her. Truth be told, I think he has been in love with her for centuries."

Okay, well that explained some of Amanda's reactions. And at least now he knew that this MacLeod character wasn't going to come looking for Amanda for her head. He was confused though.

"I realise I don't know her as well as you guys do, but I do know this. When she is angry, you know all about it, when she feels guilty, she goes all breezy and pretends nothing happened, but this is different. I have never seen her like this, but I would swear she is hurting."

Methos nodded, "She is." He looked at Nick and said carefully, "Amanda's very good at protecting her heart, she's had plenty of practice. They have known each other for over three centuries, they love each other, but they have never said it. The past few years, Amanda had spent more and more time around MacLeod and they had gotten even closer. I would guess that she has finally admitted, at least to herself, how she really feels." He paused for a moment, "She knows him well, better than any of us, so in her head she knows why he has gone, and that he will be back. But when it comes to the heart, that doesn't mean that much."

He stopped short as he noticed Amanda making her way back to the table. He stood abruptly and went over to her and took her in his arms, whispering something in her ear as he held her.

Nick turned to Joe after a moment watching them, "What's the deal with them?"

Joe smiled, "No-one knows except them, and maybe MacLeod. Tried looking in her Chronicles once, but there is no mention of when they met. But he looks out for her."

"She's a lucky woman."

In accord they chatted about the evening's jazz set, as Methos and Amanda rejoined them

The End


End file.
